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• bus
  bus

  noun

  a large motor vehicle, having a long body, equipped with seats or benches for passengers, usually operating as part of a scheduled service; omnibus.
• bus.
  bus.

  abbreviation

  business.

bus

¹ American  

[buhs] / bʌs /

noun

• buses,
  plural
• busses
  plural

1. a large motor vehicle, having a long body, equipped with seats or benches for passengers, usually operating as part of a scheduled service; omnibus.

2. (formerly) a similar horse-drawn vehicle.

3. a passenger automobile or airplane used in a manner resembling that of a bus.

4. any vehicle operated to transport children to school.

5. a low, movable filing cabinet.

6. Also called busbar, bus bar. Electricity. a heavy conductor, often made of copper in the shape of a bar, used to collect, carry, and distribute powerful electric currents, as those produced by generators.

7. Computers. a circuit that connects the CPU with other devices in a computer.

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verb (used with object)

bused, bussed, busing, bussing

1. to convey or transport by bus.

   to bus the tourists to another hotel.

2. to transport (pupils) to school by bus, especially as a means of achieving socioeconomic or racial diversity among students in a public school.

verb (used without object)

bused, bussed, busing, bussing

1. to travel on or by means of a bus.

   We bused to New York on a theater trip.

idioms

1. throw (someone or something) under the bus, to abandon or sacrifice to an imminent negative outcome for expedience or profit, or to protect oneself and one's interests.

   The accused was asked to testify against Tony, but he refused to save himself by throwing his pal under the bus.

bus ² American  

[buhs] / bʌs /

verb (used with or without object)

bused, bussed, busing, bussing

1. to work or act as a busboy or busgirl.

   She bused for her meals during her student days.

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bus. ³ American  

abbreviation

1. business.

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bus British  

/ bʌs /

noun

1. Sometimes called: motorbus. More formal name: omnibus. a large motor vehicle designed to carry passengers between stopping places along a regular route

2. short for trolleybus

3. (modifier) of or relating to a bus or buses

   a bus driver

   a bus station

4. informal a car or aircraft, esp one that is old and shaky

5. electronics computing short for busbar

6. the part of a MIRV missile payload containing the re-entry vehicles and guidance and thrust devices

7. astronautics a platform in a space vehicle used for various experiments and processes

8. to miss an opportunity; be too late

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verb

1. to travel or transport by bus

2. to transport (children) by bus from one area to a school in another in order to create racially integrated classes

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• buses
  plural
• busses
  plural

Etymology

Origin of bus¹

First recorded in 1825–35; short for omnibus; bus ¹ def. 6 short for omnibus bar

Origin of bus²

First recorded in 1830–40; back formation from busboy

Explanation

A bus is a long vehicle with many seats. An elementary school student might save a seat on the school bus each morning for her best friend. A city bus carries far more passengers than a private car, which makes it an efficient form of transportation. When bus is used as a verb, it means to transport by bus, sometimes in an effort to desegregate a school district: "The city will bus students from this neighborhood to the other side of town." It also means "to clear a table" in restaurant lingo, which is often done by a "bus boy" or a "busser."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bus bus. buses busses bused busing bussed bussing

Voting is compulsory for most Brazilian adults, though the fine for failing to do so costs less than the price of a city bus ride.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

Thousands of rugby league fans turned out to watch an open-top bus parade, after Wakefield Trinity were crowned Super League champions.

From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026

Multiple outlets have reported that the individual killed was the driver of the bus.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026

"I've been travelling for three hours... to get to work," said Tetiana Osypenko, a 49-year-old seamstress whose bus was stuck in a traffic jam.

From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026

“Hey, you two going to school today?” the bus driver yelled.

From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

"There were no other vehicles involved -- only the bus. And that bus caught fire... we are currently trying to determine the precise reason why this happened," Papaux told reporters.

From Barron's ● Mar. 11, 2026

“We’re now sleeping on the bus. There’s nothing happening. We’re just idling there forever.”

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 15, 2024

“The last thing we want to do is have kids stuck on the side of the road in a dead electric bus. Especially in the snow,” said Lassen Union High School District Supt.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 7, 2023

"I noticed her getting nervous about getting the bus. Then at night she started to cry," she said.

From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2023

“A lady on the bus. And there was another lady named Sparkle who gave us donuts.”

From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko

Hundreds of families were gathered at dawn to collect their relatives outside the base, where cars, taxis and buses were parked in ranks preparing to take them away, AFP journalists saw.

From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026

Assignments might include building nuclear autonomous buses or robots that cook.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026

Preaching on commercial buses was first prohibited in Ghana in 2012, with offenders facing up to 30 days in prison.

From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026

But enforcement was weak and so the practice remained common, particularly on buses.

From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026

Cars and buses and trucks were cruising along the highway together.

From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown

Long before cars were common and busses were running, residents still got around on the backs of their horse carts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026

“What moderates are worried about is not just the ideas that he has run on like free busses and, you know, grocery stores, that kind of thing,” Bennett said.

From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2025

He said: "Four busses for hundreds of people coming to an airport? Four busses? We're all standing here and nobody can go anywhere."

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2023

He said the elderly were evacuated on busses to hotels or other care facilities.

From Reuters ● Aug. 23, 2023

It will only take two busses and lots of hours to pick up my mother and come back.

From "American Street" by Ibi Zoboi

In August 2024, Novo Nordisk bused its employees to the sprawling Roskilde fairgrounds outside Copenhagen for its annual summer party.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026

In 2019, a self-described "caravan" of Americans bused to Canada to purchase cheaper insulin for type 1 diabetes - and to protest the costs in the US for the life-saving medication.

From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026

When soldiers are returned to Russia, they are bused from Belarus, bordering Russia and Ukraine, where most exchanges occur.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 22, 2025

French authorities bused homeless people out of Paris before the 2024 Games, and in 1984, the Los Angeles Police Department used mounted horse patrols to scatter homeless people into less visible areas of downtown.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2025

The Drones and their guests were bused in two gaily colored buses.

From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner

“Sound of Freedom” had church groups busing to theaters to watch the movie in hordes.

From Salon ● May 3, 2026

Providing this busing was one of many elements considered in the complex project.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2025

Instead, the city is busing students to schools that have extra space.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2025

Daryl, 42, a self-described conservative, lived in several Southern communities as a child, including Charlotte, North Carolina, in the mid-1980s as the city wrestled with its court-ordered school busing program.

From Salon ● Aug. 18, 2025

A few years ago, they started busing students in from all over the city.

From "On the Come Up" by Angie Thomas

Evacuees from surrounding villages were bussed in to shelter in sports halls around the capital.

From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 2026

So, I would spend summers being bussed out or sleeping out at cousins and grandparents and aunts and uncles’ houses to work on the farm.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026

At the school where the Lions are based in the Melbourne suburbs, rugby posts had to be bussed in so the tourists could train.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2025

He grabs a dish rag and scans the room before he wipes down a table that he’d just bussed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 19, 2025

And he bussed down the slope in a blur of petulant green.

From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill

That money's up to over $100 million today, but the point is that with all of the negotiations, all that prospecting, the guy that was bussing the table had the most money in the room.

From Salon ● May 18, 2024

In another Texan border city, Laredo, the manager of a community centre described to the BBC how border agents were bussing migrants and asylum centres because they were "overwhelmed".

From BBC ● Feb. 29, 2024

Other cities that have received immigrants through bussing include Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia and Washington.

From Washington Times ● Jul. 20, 2023

As a young man, he studied molecular biology at Cal State Northridge, and later did odd jobs from construction to bussing tables.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2023

I even like bussing tables in the restaurant, chatting with guests when I have a chance, and swapping stories with my coworkers.

From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day